Monday, May 24, 2010

With Katie finally back on the road and attempting to earn her keep, we decided it was high time she had a bit of play and a leg-stretch.

So on Sunday we took her off on a mini-road-trip to Rooiels before winter closes in right and proper. Other than signs that the hole in the exhaust is opening up again (one of the "and many other things" fixed...), she went pretty well. She has a decent amount of power and cruised the coast like she should.

Monday, May 17, 2010

It's been months. And MONTHS. It's taken a lot of time, effort, and unfortunately about R3K in unbudgeted-for parts and labour, but Katie is finally back on the road today.

She has new HT leads, new dizzy cap and points, new accelorator cable, new coil (the RIGHT one this time), new spacer between carb and inlet manifold, carb's been redone and tuned, and the list goes on and on. Basically, she was not particularly a well truck - we've fixed what we can under the circumstances. If she was mine there would have been a lot of other stuff done.

There's still a lot wrong with her. The battery is too small for the engine and so far away from it that there's a voltage drop by the time power gets where it needs to go - either way. The carb is too small for the engine. The K&N filter is too small too. There were quite a few "make-do" things being held together with cable ties, modified items and half-stretched springs, some of which have been fixed. And she goes very well as a result. She did what she was supposed to do with proper power and no kak today.

I'm just not entirely sure I would have agreed to babysit her if I'd known it would be more an expensive fix-it than keeping her ticking over. The only option now is to get some sort of retun on investment, so she's going to be well used in weeks to come.

This is not going to be a very long-lived blog. It's the story of Katie, a Land Rover I'm babysitting for a few months while her owner goes on a big adventure. She's the first R6 with a Chev 4.1 engine I've driven - and as every Landy has its own personality, this is her story with us.